Civic Society Notices

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River Teme: a talk by Brian Draper

Holy Trinity Church Hall at 7.30pm

Details from Clive Hooper

Next Planning Meeting

We usually hold our planning meetings on the third Wednesday in the month at the Great Malvern Hotel at 5.45 p.m. unless otherwise stated. Details from Bob Tilley

The Work of the Planning Sub Committee 

A number of projects being undertaken by the Sub Committee are very active:

Ellerslie, Abbey Road Development 

New plans are in preparation to convert the buildings into a Close Care Home - the developer has been invited to the July Planning Meeting. 

Good Design 

The April visit to Poundbury was intended to have a good look at the development and how its design principles might be applied to future developments in Malvern following the talk by Alan Shrimpton of the Bournville Trust last year, the Society has been invited to visit Lightmore, their new venture in Telford in July. 

Foley Arms Hotel 

Under the threat of outright rejection of their plans for modifying the inside of the building, the architects agreed to meet the PSC on site on 9th June. 

Shopfronts 

Good progress is being made on working with the Council on giving our Victorian Shop fronts some statutory protection - a guidance leaflet is being printed by the District Council for general distribution in the area including Tenbury and Upton. All the draft material for the shop front documentation has been prepared by James and Valerie Gilmer and represents a new spirit of co-operation between the District Council and the Society; without the Society input, the project would have failed due to lack of resources.

Local Outings

Saturday 4th September - St Michael's Church, Tenbury Wells. 

This community was designed by Henry Woodyer, the architect of Highnam which the Society visited in February 2009. Don't forget to make a note in your diary. 

Visit some of the hidden gems of our area and be taken round by a local guide. Costs £5 per head of which £4 is donated to the Church. Contact Diana Morgan to book your place; there is a limit on numbers.

Visit to Czech Spa Towns

16th October at 2.30pm 

Talk sponsored by our Civic Society: Rosemary Hill on 'Pugin - God's Architect' Malvern Theatre Cinema Tickets £6.50

11th Sept Arundells and Lacock £23.00 

As you may have seen in the Press, Arundells will close at the end of the year and will be sold; the trustees are unable to generate enough income to keep the house viable. Your last chance to see it. 

17th Nov Sothebys £38.00 No places are left for entrance to Sothebys but some room for those who would like a day in London [£19.00]. 

Have you booked for these excursions? Some places still available - contact Diana Morgan. Cheques should be made payable to 'Malvern Civic Society' and sent to Tannachie, Harcourt Road, West Malvern, WR14 4DN. Please enclose SAE if you require confirmation.

Subscriptions and Membership

Dudley Brook has offered five of his well known pen and ink drawings of Malvern to the Society to be made into notelets. These will be available in packs of five including envelopes for £2.50. Contact Brian Iles.

Over half of you have email addresses which make communication quick and inexpensive - even second class mail now costs 30p. The savings to the Society of using email are clear and we would encourage you to let us have your email address; we are well aware of security implications and the risks of spam and they will remain confidential. 

Contact Greville

After much discussion of the eight excellent nominations; the Award Committee decided unanimously to give this year's award to Malvern College for its new residential building which contains two boarding houses for sixty eight boys and fifty three girls, with study bedrooms, dining and common rooms. 

The Award Committee considered it to be a building of exceptional quality which will still give pleasure in fifty or even a hundred years' time. It's modern in design while traditional in style and materials; it fits very comfortably with its Victorian neighbours. The Committee had no doubt that its young residents will feel very much at home there. They congratulated the College, their Manchester architects, Squires and Brown, and their local builder, Speller Metcalfe.

Civic Voice

The Executive Committee has discussed joining Civic Voice, the successor to the Civic Trust, in some detail; while we would like to continue our membership of the organization that represents civic societies, the subscription is £1.50 per member, this would amount to paying the maximum figure for a civic society of £500.00. 

We have agreed to continue our membership of West MASA, the West Midlands umbrella group which will be affiliated to Civic Voice and which costs us £30 pa. In this way, we will be able to take advantage of any advice and information issued by Civic Voice. Meanwhile we will continue to keep the situation under review and will let you know what we decide. If you have a view on us joining Civic Voice or not we would like to hear from you.